Article of manufacture for promotional game



Feb. 3, 1970 J. cURzoN 3,493,230 I ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE FOR PROMOTIONAL GAME Filed Feb. 1, 1968 4 E63 U N U 0 2 3 I $1,000.00 GAME 1 I Y m 4/ W 4/ United States Patent O 3,493,230 ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE FOR PROMOTIONAL GAME Richard J. Curzon, Omaha, Nehru, assignor to Curzon Display, Inc., a corporation of Nebraska Filed Feb. 1, 1968, Ser. No. 702,251 Int. Cl. A63f 3/06; B42f 1/00 US. Cl. 273139 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An article of manufacture for use with a promotional game of chance. The article comprises a ticket having a first layer containing indicia relating to information for playing the game. A second layer overlies the first and functions to conceal the information from view prior to distribution of the article. Manual bending of the ticket will break a seal and expose ears on the second layer, which may then be easily removed to reveal the informatron.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an article of manufacture for use in a promotional game of chance. Retail establishments such as grocery stores and service stations would make use of the invention to promote sales, but the invention also has application in other fields of commerce employing games of chance of the type described.

Games of chance find wide acceptance for promotional purposes in merchandising retail goods. Many of these games employ tokens or tickets which are distributed to the store customer as an inducement for his patronage. One such game now in use employs tickets imprinted with game information concealed by a covering which adheres to the ticket surface. The information is revealed by applying water to remove the covering. However, this is objectionable in that it is inconvenient for the customer to immediately remove the covering. He cannot rapidly determine whether the ticket gives him a Winning combination.

It is also desirable that the information be adequately concealed so that premature disclosure to unauthorized persons may readily be detected. Moreover, it is important that the ticket be constructed so that it is difiicult to counterfeit.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an article of manufacture for use with a game of chance in which the game information is rapidly and conveniently revealed to the customer.

Another object is to provide an article of manufacture of the type described in which information relating to the promotional game is concealed on a ticket so that any tampering is readily apparent.

Another object is to provide a ticket for a game of chance in which the ticket construction makes counterfeiting diificult.

Another important object is to provide an article of the type described having a first layer imprinted with information concerning a promotional game of chance in which the material of the first layer is of sufiicient stiffness for processing purposes. A second layer of opaque material is secured around its edges to the first layer to conceal the information. The second layer is provided with at least one narrow slit to facilitate separation of the layers for revealing the information.

Another object is to provide an article of manufacture having at least two layers secured together around an information area on one of the layers to conceal indicia relating to a promotional game of chance. A slit is provided in the other layer to facilitate manual separation of the layers and a narrow sealing strip is provided intermediate the slit ends so that any tampering can be easily detected.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention Will become apparent from the following specifications and appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a card for a promotional game illustrating one use of the article of manufacture of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged plan view of an article of manufacture of the type used with a game such as that shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an exploded view of the article of FIG- URE 2 illustrating component elements thereof;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view illustrating a modified form of one element of the article of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of another modified form of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFFERED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGURE 1, a card indicated generally at 10 is printed with indicia in the form of the game of chance. The game illustrated is one commonly known as Bingo in which a plurality of tickets as at 12 printed with information for playing the game are used with the card to determine game winners. The card is normally rinted with free spaces, as at 13. The tickets 12 may be distributed to retail customers as a promotional device. Although the game of Bingo is illustrated, it is understood that other common games may be used with this invention in which a plurality of information bearing articles or tickets are distributed to customers.

In FIGURE 2 the article of manufacture 14 is illustrated in the form in which it would be distributed to retail customers by the merchant. In the preferred embodiment, article 14 comprises a ticket formed from a multilayered disk printed on at least one side to resemble a silver dollar. Optionally, the invention may take the form of other configurations such as the rectangular ticket 16 of FIGURE 5.

Bottom layer 18 of the ticket 14 is secured to top layer 19 by suitable means such as annular glue strip 20, as shown in FIGURE 3. The glue strip may be applied to either layer by a silk screen process prior to assembly of the layers.

Bottom layer 18 is printed with suitable indicia containing the desired information to relate each ticket to game card 10. In the embodiment illustrated, the printing comprises an image 21 of the figurehead ion a silver dollar as an anti-counterfeiting precaution. The. rinting may be divided into upper and lower halves by a dashed line 22 with the upper half referring to a particular Bingo card, such as the $25 game card, and with the lower half referring to a separate game card, such as the $1,000 game. The different game cards 10 may be distributed to the customers in the form of a game book. The customer receiving ticket 14 would be instructed to separate the halves, as by cutting along line 22. He would then use each ticket half with the corresponding game card. The printing on layer 18 many also inform the customer that the ticket would only be used with a particular book of cards such as by the indicia GAME #150.

In the particular ticket 14 illustrated, the lower half of layer 18 is imprinted with the indicia G This half would thus be used with the $1,000 game card 10 in the appropriate square at 12. The upper half of layer 18 is also printed with the indicia O to be used with a $25 game card, not shown.

ice

Bottom layer 18 may comprise a material which is difficult to counterfeit, such as multi-layered pari-mutual ticket stock which is commercially available. Such a material may comprise first and second outer sheets 26 and 28 bonded to a colored liner sheet 30. When torn, the colored liner is revealed to indicate that the ticket is authentic.

It is desirable that bottom layer 18 have suificient strength and durability to withstand repeated handling; The customer will accumulate a number of the layers 18 until a winning Bingo combination is obtained at which time they are returned to the store manager who in turn may forward them to the game promoter for collection and further processing. Accordingly, the material of layer 18 is selected to have sufficient stiffness and durability to withstand this processing.

Top layer 19 is made from an opaque material and overlies the surface of layer 18 to conceal the printed information. This serves to prevent unauthorized disclosure of the game information prior to distribution of the articles to the customers. The upper surface of layer 19 may be printed with the promotional mark such as the silver dollar figurehead which is only partially illustrated for purposes of clarity.

It is desirable that top layer 19 be easily removed so that the game information is rapidly revealed to create added consumer interest in the promotional device. To achieve this, layer 19 may be formed with an arcuate slit or out line 36 defining a pair of pop-up ear portions 32 and 34. Slit 36 is discontinuous at one or more locations to form tabs 38, 40 which hold the ear portions together against the bottom layer. By merely bending the ticket the tabs will break and the ears pop-up so that the layers can be rapidly separated by the customer. The narrow tabs or strips of material at 38 and 4t} serve as a seal which, once broken, is extremely difficult to reseal. This provides an effective safeguard so that any unauthorized disclosure of the information is indicated.

Although slit 36 is illustrated as having a reverse curve configuration other forms for the curvature may be adopted. FIGURE 4 illustrates one modification of the ticket in which a top layer 42 is formed with a pair of substantially straight slits 44 and 46 converging together at the narrow strip 48, which functions as a seal as explained above. This forms an ear portion 50 which will pop-up as the ticket is bent and the seal is broken.

While the embodiment herein is at present considered to be preferred, it will be understood that numerous variations and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all such variations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a promotion device for use in a promotion system,

a base structure,

said base structure having an indicia receiving area on one surface thereof, and indicia on said indicia receiving area,

said indicia conveying visually understandable information related to the promotion system,

a top structure overlying said indicia and secured to the base structure,

said top structure being opaque and thereby obscuring the indicia on the base structure from view,

a pair of flap areas formed in the top structure,

said flap areas being formed by a cut line,

said cut line having at least one destructible element located between said pair of flap areas,

at least a portion of each flap area overlying at least a portion of said indicia, said flap areas lying on opposite sides of said out line, said flap areas and said destructible element being located with respect to one another in such relationship that imposition of a bending force on said device induces relative displacement of the extremity portion of each flap area away from the base structure, and destruction of said destructible element,

whereby either one, or both, of said flap areas may be gripped and thereafter separated from said base structure.

2. The promotion device of claim 1 further characterized in that said cut line is curved.

3. The promotion device of claim 1 further characterized in that said destructible elements are integrally formed with said top structure.

4. The promotion device of claim 1 further characterized in that said top structure is secured to the base structure by a layer of adhesive material disposed around said indicia receiving area.

5. The promotion device of claim 4 further characterized in that said device is generally circular in configuration.

6. The promotion device of claim 1 further characterized in that said base structure is formed from a plurality of layered sheets, said layered sheets having disparate coloration to provide a readily identifiable counterfeiting indicator.

7. The promotion device of claim 1 further characterized in that the base structure is formed of material of greater stiffness than the top structure.

8. The promotion device of claim 1 further character ized in that the out line is formed with a reverse curve configuration.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 700,761 5/1902 GOOdfill 2836 X 2,180,808 11/1939 Jacobstein et a1. 2836 2,309,178 1/1943 Fallon et al. 2838 2,831,278 4/1958 Myers 2836 X 3,040,472 6/1962 Miller 283-6 X ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner A. W. KRAMER, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

